Yue

 21st November

11:12 GMT -5

Mammon is a… Big fellow. His current morbidly obese but heavily muscled body is about fifteen metres tall, and is limply hanging from the kaahuite chains holding him upright. The room appears to have been constructed with him in mind; our platform stops a third of the way across the room, and the upper part of his stomach is level with us. Mammon's dull eyes focus on us slightly as Satanus leads us inside. I get a.. slight twitch, but he doesn't otherwise react.

"How much am I draining him?"

"Nothing he can't spare. In fact…" He reaches up and shoves the nails of his right hand into Mammon's left tit, causing demonic ichor to flow from the wound. "From the feel of it you're barely draining him at all. How did you enjoy the rhyming?"

"I didn't even realise I was doing it."

"I honestly thought that you'd absorb more than that. Still, I suppose that I can't draw firm conclusions on such a small sample size." He pulls his hand out and flicks the blood away. "How do you like it?"

"It was a clever way to bypass my defences. And I've noticed… A few slight changes to my outlook. Mister Hayes didn't disgust me in the way he did during our previous meeting. I didn't even register the suffering of the demons Mister Hayes threw at Ran Va Daath, I was instinctively more physically violent. Crueller, less empathic. And I haven't noticed any real advantages."

"Have you tried to use magic yet?"

Mr Blood looks at me with a degree of concern. "No." Why does he..? "Ah. The structure of my soul was too inhuman to use earthly magic, but if I become a demon…"

"You can use demonic magic just as well as any demon. Perhaps better. Given what you've absorbed from Mammon I'm forced to conclude that you aren't top tier… Yet. But you're certainly carrying more power than most, even before I take your rings into consideration."

"Are you..? Really offering me a job?"

"Oh, not just you." He turns to Mr Blood. "Jason Blood, your willing cooperation would be preferable. And once we have everything we need from you, I would be happy to return you to Earth -with or without Etrigan-, or employ you here."

"'Once you have everything you need'?"

"Defending my realm from the Silver City must take priority. But I firmly believe that it will be easier to get what we need with your help. And so I am prepared to be quite generous."

"When… You say… Without Etrigan..?"

"He's powerful, but hardly indestructible. Once we understand exactly what Merlin did to the two of you, I'm confident that we'll be able to unbind the spell."

"Etrigan's wanted that for as long as we've been together. And I don't think he has a mind to benefit you."

"Etrigan is a brute. As the Second of the Fallen and the Third of the Fallen demonstrated well, even the most powerful demon can be bound -or destroyed- by one with the right tools."

He appears to be considering that rather seriously. Surprises me, actually. Not that I know him well, but I'd have thought that after however many centuries of having an adversarial relationship with demons, he'd be a little slower to risk it.

"Would you be prepared to make a binding oath that you would keep to any deal we struck?"

"I'm willing to be bound in some matters. But I have no obvious successor. My work dies with me if I misstep. I will require some room to maneuver."

Oh. No, Mr Blood is not taking it seriously. He's just looking for an exit. Looking a little closer I see that much as he complains about some aspects of Etrigan's behaviour, he's actually grown rather accustomed to his dark passenger. I wonder if Etrigan will keep behaving in the manner to which Blood has become accustomed now that he's had a taste of Hell. And defeat. I do not believe that Etrigan is one to let his grudges go easily.

Satanus returns his attention to me. "And you, Paul?"

"It's… Tricky. I knew that I was being influenced, and you'd admitted to being the one behind it. This should make me sceptical, but… The magic is integrated into me now."

"A child would make different decisions to a man."

"I wouldn't be that blunt, but my thoughts weren't too far away. Who is your truer self? Who you were? No. I'm not the same man I was before coming to this universe. That was true after I lived through my first fight, let alone my bond with the Ophidian. Who I am? Today has been a change, yes, but how I now think and feel is less of a change than other changes I've undergone. I could learn to use magic now, opening any number of new options. Who I will become? I've never had a clear end state in mind. True, I didn't imagine… This-." I frown and look at him. "I can still change my physical form, yes?"

"I can think of no reason why not. Mammon might prove an influence in the short term, but if you stop drawing directly from him and instead draw from the same well as him then that should cease to be a problem."

"I laud your objectives… I dislike the Silver City on principle… What are your plans for DMN. The drug?"

"A bribe to gain support, and an outgrowth of my other research. Humans require a slower path to damnation, and it grants me demonic functionaries who are more human in mindset and possess more arcane power. Would you like to meet the caterpillar who assisted Harm during your first meeting? She has adapted rather well."

Do I? No, not really. "Then what does Rosacarnis get out of it?"

"They don't all manage to make the transition. And… Human sensoria can be just as addictive to demons as demonic power can be to humans."

Hm. Doesn't… Particularly bother me. Someone who plays a shell game should know what they're getting into. Actually finding the shell should be a pleasant surprise, not something you expect. "Beyond shoring up your power base, what else do you intend? I can't imagine that your allies will be entirely happy if you pave over their domains as you do your own."

"Once we connect this realm to the Dream, anything is possible. Imagine: being able to define the arcane mechanisms of a blank slate world. Free arcane energy without the restrictions that come with magic use on Earth. And not limited to demonic magic; if it exists in the Dream it can exist here."

"Again, your allies-."

"Will learn to live with it or become obsolete, just as they are obsoleting their competition now. I bear them no ill-will, but they are attempting to apply new techniques to the old paradigm. On a practical level, Richie came up with a fascinating idea for using great arcane arks to travel from one world's Hell to another when he was on his last bender. Bypassing physical space entirely to travel hundreds of light years in an instant."

I nod. "That could work. Only.. between inhabited regions, but there's certainly potential there. Your friends in the Light?"

"Will join us here, in the fullness of time. I maintain ties to them as much to ensure that they don't disrupt my operations here as any other reason. Earth has things I need… But that's not going to be the case forever."

"I'm…" Huh. Carte blanche to do what I want, without having to work around regulators or -frankly- the League. And if something misfires… It's hell. In utilitarian terms, I can undoubtedly do more good here. And Satanus did this without me prompting him at all. Who on Earth does anything like that? "I think-."

Brambles slice outwards from the 'Y' shaped cut on Mammon's stomach as Euanthe bursts free, the rest of my team behind her!